Fantasy Football Today

Quick Fantasy Hits for Week 13

Could DeAngelo WIlliams be a solid play this week? Is Josh Gordon actually improving? And which kicker could be a plug-and-play the rest of the season? Nando Di Fino dinves into this more in his Quick Fantasy Hits for Week 13.

As we wade into a 13th week of action, there are some nuggets that
are too in-depth for the podcast, too long for Twitter and a little too
short for the full column. Enjoy these Week 13 Quick Hits.

We're going to try something new this week and go through every game
for Week 13. Impact players, sleepers, rookies, Mark Sanchez and -- yes
-- even kickers are found below for your Fantasy pleasure. Hopefully
something in this rat-a-tat-tat of information can help you get into
your league's playoffs.

New Orleans at Atlanta (Thursday night)

Your leading rusher for the Saints this season?
Pierre Thomas
with 341 yards. But the player with the most attempts is
Mark Ingram
, who has 92 carries and just 339 yards to show for it.
In the last three weeks, Ingram has averaged about 13 carries for 54
yards. He's scored one touchdown in that span. Ingram has gotten 12 or
more carries three times this season and he's scored a touchdown twice.
In a way, he's trending in the right direction: he's had double-digit
carries the last three games and had 16 (for 67 yards) the last time the
Saints and Falcons squared off. But the carries have gone down each of
the last three games, from 16 to 12 to 10.

Houston at Tennessee

Houston's run defense has been, overall, pretty tough, with the Texans
allowing the second-fewest Fantasy points to running backs this season.
In fact, all season long they've allowed just one running back to hit
the 100-yard mark:
Chris Johnson
. While
this may bode well for Johnson owners, it's tempered by the fact that
Jake Locker
's presence seems to hurt Johnson's value. When Locker is
the QB, Johnson averages 7.2 Fantasy points per game. When
Matt Hasselbeck
was the quarterback, Johnson averaged 14. There
could be other factors -- Johnson could have started the season slow and
it just happened to coincide with Locker's being healthy at the time --
but it shouldn't be enough to not start Johnson in most leagues.

New England at Miami

For all the attention paid to
Tom Brady
and the New England passing attack (the team is fourth in passing yards
this season), the New England rushing game is equally impressive,
sitting at second in the NFL in attempts and sixth in yards. With a
61-yard rushing performance against the Dolphins,
Stevan Ridley
-- who has more than 200 attempts this season -- will
hit the 1,000-yard mark for the season. But don't bank on him turning in
a score. While the Dolphins have given up some yards on the ground
lately (103.3 yards per game in their last six), they have allowed three
rushing touchdowns all season to running backs, including just one in
the last 10 games.

Jacksonville at Buffalo

For as impressive as
Steve Johnson
's
106-yard performance was in Week 12, he only caught six passes on 15
targets against the Colts. On one hand, Johnson owners have to be
excited at the prospect of 15 targets -- and nine in each of the two
previous weeks -- but failing to convert nine of them is the
continuation of a season-long problem that has haunted Johnson. He
currently ranks fifth in the number of targets not converted into
receptions (behind
Reggie Wayne
,
Larry Fitzgerald
,
Dwayne Bowe
and
Calvin Johnson
.

Indianapolis at Detroit

The Lions are first in passing attempts and yards, but rank only 16th in
passing touchdowns. On the flip side to that, Detroit is 26th in rushing
attempts and 24th in rushing yards, but fourth in rushing touchdowns.
This has resulted in a weird disconnect, where
Calvin Johnson
has 1,257 total yards from scrimmage and four
touchdowns while
Mikel Leshoure
has 688
total yards but has scored six times. This philosophy is a major
departure from last season, when the Lions were first in pass attempts
and third in passing TDs, while finishing 31st in rushing attempts and
23rd in rushing TDs.

Carolina at Kansas City

Over 91 career games,
DeAngelo Williams
has gotten 15 or more carries 32 times. He has averaged 92.8 rushing
yards and scored 27 rushing touchdowns, nearly one per game. In 18 games
with 18 or more carries, Williams has averaged 111.8 yards per game and
scored 20 rushing touchdowns. And in 10 games with 20 or more carries,
Williams has averaged 125.7 yards and 16 carries, scoring 12 rushing
TDs. Of course, he's only played two of those 32 games with rushing
threat
Cam Newton
as his quarterback.
In four of their last five games, the Chiefs have faced an opposing
running back who got 19 or more carries. They have faced an average of
28 carries from opposing running backs in that span.

Arizona at N.Y. Jets

It's not exactly a defense of
Mark Sanchez
,
but it's at least prudent to point out that the 2011 Jets receiving
leaders were:
Dustin Keller
(815 yards,
five TDs),
Santonio Holmes
(654 yards,
eight TDs),
Plaxico Burress
(612 yards,
eight TDs) and
LaDainian Tomlinson
(449
yards, two TDs). Sanchez finished with 3,474 passing yards and 26
touchdowns. Keller has started just four games this year, Holmes was
injured in the fourth game, the team jettisoned Burress and Tomlinson
retired. The fourth-leading receiver this year?
Chaz Schilens
. For all the scorn heaped on him, Sanchez is still on
pace for 3,402 passing yards, but just 17 touchdowns. There's no doubt
it's been ugly, but if Sanchez had, say,
Vincent Jackson
to throw to, things would be looking decidedly better.

San Francisco at St. Louis

Over the last three games, the running back with the most rushing yards
in the
Steven Jackson
, with 321.
Jamaal Charles
and
Arian Foster
are
tied for second, with 294.

Minnesota at Green Bay

The Vikings have allowed seven total touchdowns to running backs so far
this season. All of them have come in their last six games, with five
coming in their last four. After a brilliant start to the season against
running backs the Vikings have faltered a bit, giving up an average of
22 Fantasy points to opposing running backs over their last five games.

Seattle at Chicago

In the last three weeks,
Russell Wilson
has slowly -- and somewhat quietly -- been increasing his rushing yards.
In Week 9, he ran nine times for 27 yards. In Week 10, Wilson ran seven
times for a career-high 34 yards. And in Week 12, Wilson re-set his
career high with five rushes for 38 yards. Wilson finished his college
career with an average of 355 rushing yards per season, a mark he is
nearing in his rookie season (he has 227 right now). Over the last three
games, Wilson is tied for third in rushing yards among all QBs, with
Cam Newton
. If this turns out to be a late-season strategy by the
Seahawks -- have Wilson run more -- those two or three points per game
he regularly gets from the ground could be a nice boost in closer
playoff games.

Tampa Bay at Denver

For the season,
Eric Decker
is averaging
five receptions and 62 yards, with about 10 Fantasy points per game. But
in his last three games, Decker has averaged just five points per game,
with an average of 34 receiving yards and one total touchdown. Lurking
in the shadows laughing?
Brandon Stokley
,
who has averaged 6.4 Fantasy points per game this season, but 9.3 in his
last three games. He's averaged 57 yards per game over his last three to
Decker's 34, as well. Two of Stokley's best seasons came while he was
with
Peyton Manning
and the Colts -- in
2004, he had 1,077 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. And his 449 yards
so far this season already qualify as his fifth-highest total in a
14-year career.

Cincinnati at San Diego

Before the Week 8 bye,
Mohamed Sanu
had
a total of 27 receiving yards. In the four weeks since the bye, Sanu has
eclipsed that total in three of his four games. His value may be tied to
touchdowns, as he has caught four in the last three games, but
Andy Dalton
targeted Sanu nine times in Week 12, up fom an average
of five in the previous two weeks.

Cleveland at Oakland

Coming off the Week 10 bye,
Josh Gordon
has two consecutive seven-target games. And his games of five (Week 11)
and four (Week 12) receptions represent his two highest totals so far
this year.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore

Justin Tucker
is currently the fifth-best kicker in Fantasy
leagues, with 109 Fantasy points so far this season. He's missed just
two of his 24 attempts and has a long of 56 yards. In the four games
since Baltimore's bye, Tucker has scored in double digits twice. And
here's the best part about him: while the rest of his team seems to have
some heavy home/road splits, Tucker is dead even at home and on the
road, averaging 10 Fantasy points in both scenarios

Philadelphia at Dallas

Fun Fact: Nick Foles fumbled five times in November, despite starting
just two games. He has two more fumbles than the group of eight players
tied for second, with three fumbles (led by
Philip Rivers
and
Chris Rainey
.
Other monthly leaders this year?
Mark Sanchez
fumbled five times in October and
Michael Vick
and
Robert Griffin III
fumbled five
times each in September. The season leaders in fumbles are Vick and
Sachez, with 10 each.

N.Y. Giants at Washington

Alfred Morris
ranks fifth among all running backs in rushing
yards, with 982. But, of the top 30, Morris has the fewest receiving
yards, with 42. The next--lowest total?
Stevan Ridley
with 61.